Let me preface this by saying, I don’t own a Nexus 7 tablet, but someone close to me does and he’s not a happy camper. Apparently, there is a widespread, pretty well-known problem regarding charging the tablet. In short, the tablet won’t charge or it barely charges.

*Save yourself time and frustration. Skip to the end of this post for the solution to the problem*

A Little Investigation

After hearing the unbelievable story of a relatively new Nexus 7’s inability to charge I decided to roam the web. A came across the following post that does a good job of explaining the problem (not for the feint of heart):

From what I’ve read around the net, it appears that if you have a Nexus 7 that doesn’t charge or is slowly charging, you’re pretty much screwed!

A Ray of Hope?

I all but gave up finding a solution to the problem when I came across a potential solution outlined in a Google Products Forum. The steps outlined below purportedly work for the 2012 Nexus 7. Here’s the link to the post and I’ve also copied and pasted the text for the alleged solution below:

I have resolved the charging problem with the Nexus 7 Tablet. Hope whoever is having this issue will be resolved also.

Here is what I have done. to fix the Issue.

Cleaned the contacts with Blue Shower cleaner for electrical components (micro-USB port) once it is removed from the unit. Disconnected the battery connector, micro-USB ribbon connector. Finally, once everything is installed back before speaker is connected back I put electrical tape on the micro-USB and headphone jack. Prior to opening the tablet, I deleted a few apps.

Anyone, of these issues could have resolved the charging issue I have.

Follow the link below.

Open the back of the tablet. Below is a link that shows how to remove the back cover of the Tablet. Thanks to Tampatec.

Follow all the steps from video. Do not need to remove the wire connection for the speaker.

1 – Turn off tablet

2 – Remove the back cover

3 – Disconnect battery connection

4 – Remove the micro-screws to the speaker and the micro-USB charging port/headphone jack unit.

5 – Disconnect the micro-USB(charging port) connector from the ribbon

6 – re-seat and reconnect all the connectors.

I followed the video link above exactly except not replacing any parts just re-connecting the connectors

Additionally, I did the following.

Reconnect the micro-usb to the ribbon, screw the unit back into place. Do Not connect the speaker yet.

Get electrical tape.

Place the electrical tape on top of the Micro-USB charging port and headphone Jack that is being exposed. Cut the pieces to the exact size
Make sure you do not cover any screw holes with the electrical tape, especially the one where the speaker unit seats on top of the the charging port.

This should fix the charging issue. Should be back to charging rate at 25% per hour.

During use, if plugged in still drains the battery, not sure what causes this.

Hope this helps.

Now Charging from 0% to 100% in 3.5 hours, using the original ASUS charger and cable.

This fix is from a user named Ali written on March 3rd.

In addition to the above, there are several YouTube videos explaining how to open the Nexus 7 to repair the problem. I cannot say whether or not these fixes work, but if you’re about to toss your Nexus 7 to the curb, you might want to give it a try just before you toss it.

Excellent reconnecting the ribbon cable and adding electrical tape fixed my charging issues with Nexus 7 (2012). Its charging like a champ again with original charger. No need to revert software from 5.1.1

All I can say is….yep. Someone posted a trick where you quickly plug and unplug the USB from the wall unit on OEM charger and can (I guess?) trick the unit into charging again…Usually only works for 30-60 minutes at a time for me…Does seem to be software related as this only just started happening when I got the upgrade to 4.4.4.

I basically don’t play games on it because I don’t want to drain the battery too much….Only for email and facebook primarily…Hate to say it, but after being an Android fanboy all these years, I am seriously considering Apple *shudder as I even type that*….Very disappointed in Google these days…

I’ve heard the Android to Apple sentiment before. No one can blame you if you go over to the other side.

My brother ended up using rubber bands to hold the charger and device in place in order to get it to charge. Sounds like a solution similar to what I did when my Kodak camera wouldn’t charge. The problem was getting the charger and device pins to touch just right.

With so many Nexus 7s on the market, it’s truly sad that Google is allowing such a problem to persist.

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